Lens



Jan. 9, 1923. 1,441,252. W. E. C. STONE.

LENS.

ORIGINAL FILED FEB 8, 1921.

INVENTOR. M f c: ame

6 5 ATTORNEYS curved outwardliy Patented Jan. 9, 1923.

STATES WALLACE E. C. STONE, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

LENS.

Gontinuation of application Serial No. 443,436, filed February 8, 1921.

1922. Serial No. 557,051.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALLACE E. C. STONE, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvments in Lenses, ofwhich the following is a specification. I

The present. invention relates to a lens, and an object of the inventionis to provide a lens designed for signs which are illuminated from therear. A further object of the invention is to provide a lens which willbe visible at a maximum distance from the sign and at any point within awide angle.

To these and other ends, the invention consists of certain parts andcombinations of parts, all of which will'be hereinafter described, thenovel features being pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the glass sheet before it is cut;

Fig. 2 is an edge View of the glass sheet;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the rear side showing the lens after thecolored glass has been cut to expose the clear glass;

Fig. 4 is an edge view of the lens as shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the rear side of the lens after it has beenground or frosted; and

lens on the line 6-6, Fig. 5.

According to this invention, a glassp'late is provided which has a clearglass portion or layer 1 and a colored glass portion or layer 2 formedintegrally with the clear glass portion. This colored glass portion iscut to provide a character of any suitable kind, such as a letter,figure,-in fact, any suitable design projectingfromthe surface of theclear glass portion. The clear'glass portion around the character ispreferably or convex asat 3, so that the longest chor of the curve liesat a slight angle to the plane of the lens, say at an angle of about 170degrees. The curved surface Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of theThis application filed ApriLZS,

of the clear glass portion about the character is also ground. The lensis adapted for use in connection with an illuminating means arrangedbehind the colored and frosted glass side and when so used, the coloredcharacter on the lens is visible for a long distance due to the factthat not only is the character illuminated, but that the ground surfaceabout the character provides a back ground of such character that itmakes the design visible at a much greater distance than if such groundsurface were not provided. Furthermore, the slight curve to the groundsurface about the character causes the rays to be concentrated insteadof dispersing them and permits the character to be read at any pointwithin a very wide angle.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A lens formed to permit the passage of light'rays from a light sourcein rear thereof and comprising a clear glass layer and a charactershaped colored layer integrally formed with said clear glass layer onthe rear face of the latter, and the rear face of the clear glass layerabout the character shaped layer being ground.

2. A lens formed to permit the passage of light rays from a light sourcein rear thereof and comprising a clear glass layer and a charactershaped colored layer integrally formed with said clear glass layer onthe rear face of the latter, and-the rear face of the clear glass layerabout the character shaped layer being ground and also being curvedoutwardly, the longest chordof said curved face being inclined to theplane of the lens.

3. A lens adapted to be illuminated from a light source in the rearthereof and having a character on its rear face and a curved frostedsurface on its rear face about the character, the longest chord of saidcurved frosted surface being inclined to the plane of the lens.

WALLACE E. C. STONE.

